LDV T60 is an impressive new entry

I drove LDV’s new T60 4 x 4 dual-cab ute this week which arrives with a welcome five-star ANCAP crash safety rating in two models – the workhorse T60 Pro and the more lifestyle skewed T60 Luxe – both feature a 2.8-litre turbo diesel and a choice of six-speed manual or six-speed auto – prices kicking off at a sharp $28,990 drive-away if you hold an ABN number, 30,516 if you don’t. Warranty a welcome 5 years/130,000 k’s. The LDV T60 features close to a one-tonne payload and a 3-tonne towing ability – its robust, well-built and a big step up for Chinese utes compared to earlier entries from Great Wall. Drive is selectable – with 2WD high and 4WD high and Low – and it returns around 8.8L/100 in manual, 9.6 in auto. Visually, it has a little too much chrome around the grille but otherwise has acceptable style, importantly for the money, coming with a lot of equipment. After driving both variants this week, the LDV T60 Luxe is the one to own especially in automatic at 34,990 drive-away. With a slightly reduced payload the Luxe variant gets a welcome softer suspension to the Pro model but on rough country roads it displayed a need for more rebound control on its front dampers – Importer Ateco Automotive needing to follow the lead of the Korean importers and use a local suspension engineer. Apart from that the LDV T60 ute is an impressive new entry. I’m David Berthon